999 days
I was going to jump back into the fray today with thousands of words on the state of the world - and the overwhelming percentage of global misery that's directly attributable to the reign of George the Younger. Why, after my short absence from this site, I see that there's even an abundance of new topics to choose from that can be added to the already endless list of Administration missteps and failures. Outrageous oil prices. Immigration. Personnel "shakeups" at the White House. Continued stupidity in our interaction with Iran.
Add that to the proven lies about Iraq, leaking of classified information, collusion with corporate robber barons, more lies about Iraq, election tampering, financial irresponsibility, bigger lies about Iraq, illegal domestic surveillance, cronyism, disaster unpreparedness, and MORE AND BIGGER LIES ABOUT IRAQ, and there would seem to be enough material to fill at least 10 separate posts.
But I just can't do it.
Because, to me, there is still only one central story buried among all these juicy choices. It's the single issue which encompasses all the others, but ironically is the one topic rarely mentioned by the traditional media, and only sporadically discussed in a blogosphere that's too often obsessed with just the catch of the day.
It's the "bigger picture," the proverbial forest that's getting missed in our frantic rush from tree to individual tree. It is the solitary course of action absolutely necessary before any meaningful change can occur in a nation hurtling perilously downhill, the thing without which any other specific analyses are nothing more than entertaining literary exercises.
And that's the removal of the entire Bush Administration from office.
To continue discussing each additional example of this group's incompetence as it arises in a sort of self-contained bubble, has not only had the effect of leaving a host of troubling and vital issues perpetually unanswered, but is missing the overall point. We already have enough proof that this Administration is keeping the country on the wrong heading, and that its "master plan" - whether domestic or international - JUST AIN'T WORKIN'!
It seems irrational to me for the citizenry to debate any beneficial shift in policy, or truly effective reform, or serious investigation into wrongdoing, as long as the chief obstacle to each of those vital changes is allowed to retain the title of Executive Puppetmaster. Is it not obvious to us all by now that anything heralded as a "new direction" is not really about long term solutions, but about the appearance of change as a means of bolstering poll numbers?
With this group, it's always been about the short-term. Obfuscation. PR campaigns. Smoke and mirrors. Style over substance.
And have you really watched the President lately? He doesn't look too good - in fact, he's beginning to appear and sound quite mad at times, disconnected from reality, revealing the petulant child at the core of his entire presidency with statements like, "I'm the decider" and his constant, almost infantile insistence that we simply trust what he says is true, though he's given the public little reason so far to do so.
He's become the Captain Queeg piloting our ship of state, keeping his rudder hard to starboard while cutting his own towline. I can literally picture him obsessively rolling those ball-bearings in his clenched hand, muttering about "the shtrawberries" as his crew's morale and performance sink further into the abyss. Is this the person we're content to call "President" for even one more moment?
His mike-in-one-hand, stalking-the-stage speaking performances, while undoubtedly intended as a viable strategy to re-capture Bush's folksy appeal to the masses, instead convey the aura of a slightly unhinged revival preacher. What we need now to solve the messes created by this band of self-serving cronies is a President, not Elmer Gantry. What we need is an individual committed to changing the course, not a snake-oil salesman who blindly delivers the same tired pitch to his disbelieving audience irregardless of well-known fact. What we need right now is a head of state.
And without one - and soon - all else is just so much meaningless chatter.
Oh, I know I'll return by tomorrow to some of those individual issues, because they are important, each in its own right, and must be pursued vigorously with the eternal optimism that one day all the cogs in our broken government machine can be repaired. And it is encouraging to see that some U.S. states are attempting in their own ways to seek accountability from Bush and friends for the crimes they've committed against our democracy.
But until we rise with a collective voice and demand a sweeping change in management, this corporation known as America will only continue to operate in a manner that's proved to be disastrous for the past 5+ years. As we flit from scandal to scandal, mindlessly "moving on" from yesterday's headlines, we're somehow failing to grasp the story - and obvious solution - at the center of it all. Whatever the existing difficulties are with the process of firing the President and his minions, to not do so would be an indefensibly lazy, almost lemming-like act of self destruction, and an inexplicable abandonment of basic common sense.
George Bush has nearly three years left on his contract, and shows no signs of supporting any meaningful change in his domestic or foreign policies. Can we afford to simply wait out his final 999 days at the helm? Have we become so spoiled and complacent about our freedom that we're unwilling to lift a finger, even if just to point, at the true culprits at the root of what has been a relentless attack on that freedom? Are we unwilling to face the single step necessary to obtaining any real shift in national direction?
When will our evening newscasts, our front page articles, our most-linked blog stars, our water cooler conversations and heated barroom debates repeatedly begin with, "More scandalous revelations about the White House's complicity in [take your pick]. But the real question today is how much longer the Bush Administration can be left in power - for the good of the nation, and the safety of the world?"
Every day that we fail to address that question, another Iraqi citizen perishes in the hell we've created - and another American enemy is born. Every day that we fail to address that question, another American son or daughter is lost overseas. Every day that we fail to address that question, another middle-class family loses a job, a home, a pension, an insurance policy, while another corporate White House ally absconds with hundreds of millions in profit.
Every day that we fail to address that question, another chance to do something about saving our planet from environmental catastrophe is wasted. Every day that we fail to address that question, our global leadership position in scientific research and medical breakthrough is further eroded. Every day that we fail to address that question, another gay or female or simply progressive citizen suffers an assault on his or her civil liberties. Every day that we fail to address that question, the Bush Administration moves us closer to another unwarranted, unjustified, unprovoked Middle Eastern war.
Every day for the next 999. And beyond that, there's really nothing much to say.
Add that to the proven lies about Iraq, leaking of classified information, collusion with corporate robber barons, more lies about Iraq, election tampering, financial irresponsibility, bigger lies about Iraq, illegal domestic surveillance, cronyism, disaster unpreparedness, and MORE AND BIGGER LIES ABOUT IRAQ, and there would seem to be enough material to fill at least 10 separate posts.
But I just can't do it.
Because, to me, there is still only one central story buried among all these juicy choices. It's the single issue which encompasses all the others, but ironically is the one topic rarely mentioned by the traditional media, and only sporadically discussed in a blogosphere that's too often obsessed with just the catch of the day.
It's the "bigger picture," the proverbial forest that's getting missed in our frantic rush from tree to individual tree. It is the solitary course of action absolutely necessary before any meaningful change can occur in a nation hurtling perilously downhill, the thing without which any other specific analyses are nothing more than entertaining literary exercises.
And that's the removal of the entire Bush Administration from office.
To continue discussing each additional example of this group's incompetence as it arises in a sort of self-contained bubble, has not only had the effect of leaving a host of troubling and vital issues perpetually unanswered, but is missing the overall point. We already have enough proof that this Administration is keeping the country on the wrong heading, and that its "master plan" - whether domestic or international - JUST AIN'T WORKIN'!
It seems irrational to me for the citizenry to debate any beneficial shift in policy, or truly effective reform, or serious investigation into wrongdoing, as long as the chief obstacle to each of those vital changes is allowed to retain the title of Executive Puppetmaster. Is it not obvious to us all by now that anything heralded as a "new direction" is not really about long term solutions, but about the appearance of change as a means of bolstering poll numbers?
With this group, it's always been about the short-term. Obfuscation. PR campaigns. Smoke and mirrors. Style over substance.
And have you really watched the President lately? He doesn't look too good - in fact, he's beginning to appear and sound quite mad at times, disconnected from reality, revealing the petulant child at the core of his entire presidency with statements like, "I'm the decider" and his constant, almost infantile insistence that we simply trust what he says is true, though he's given the public little reason so far to do so.
He's become the Captain Queeg piloting our ship of state, keeping his rudder hard to starboard while cutting his own towline. I can literally picture him obsessively rolling those ball-bearings in his clenched hand, muttering about "the shtrawberries" as his crew's morale and performance sink further into the abyss. Is this the person we're content to call "President" for even one more moment?
His mike-in-one-hand, stalking-the-stage speaking performances, while undoubtedly intended as a viable strategy to re-capture Bush's folksy appeal to the masses, instead convey the aura of a slightly unhinged revival preacher. What we need now to solve the messes created by this band of self-serving cronies is a President, not Elmer Gantry. What we need is an individual committed to changing the course, not a snake-oil salesman who blindly delivers the same tired pitch to his disbelieving audience irregardless of well-known fact. What we need right now is a head of state.
And without one - and soon - all else is just so much meaningless chatter.
Oh, I know I'll return by tomorrow to some of those individual issues, because they are important, each in its own right, and must be pursued vigorously with the eternal optimism that one day all the cogs in our broken government machine can be repaired. And it is encouraging to see that some U.S. states are attempting in their own ways to seek accountability from Bush and friends for the crimes they've committed against our democracy.
But until we rise with a collective voice and demand a sweeping change in management, this corporation known as America will only continue to operate in a manner that's proved to be disastrous for the past 5+ years. As we flit from scandal to scandal, mindlessly "moving on" from yesterday's headlines, we're somehow failing to grasp the story - and obvious solution - at the center of it all. Whatever the existing difficulties are with the process of firing the President and his minions, to not do so would be an indefensibly lazy, almost lemming-like act of self destruction, and an inexplicable abandonment of basic common sense.
George Bush has nearly three years left on his contract, and shows no signs of supporting any meaningful change in his domestic or foreign policies. Can we afford to simply wait out his final 999 days at the helm? Have we become so spoiled and complacent about our freedom that we're unwilling to lift a finger, even if just to point, at the true culprits at the root of what has been a relentless attack on that freedom? Are we unwilling to face the single step necessary to obtaining any real shift in national direction?
When will our evening newscasts, our front page articles, our most-linked blog stars, our water cooler conversations and heated barroom debates repeatedly begin with, "More scandalous revelations about the White House's complicity in [take your pick]. But the real question today is how much longer the Bush Administration can be left in power - for the good of the nation, and the safety of the world?"
Every day that we fail to address that question, another Iraqi citizen perishes in the hell we've created - and another American enemy is born. Every day that we fail to address that question, another American son or daughter is lost overseas. Every day that we fail to address that question, another middle-class family loses a job, a home, a pension, an insurance policy, while another corporate White House ally absconds with hundreds of millions in profit.
Every day that we fail to address that question, another chance to do something about saving our planet from environmental catastrophe is wasted. Every day that we fail to address that question, our global leadership position in scientific research and medical breakthrough is further eroded. Every day that we fail to address that question, another gay or female or simply progressive citizen suffers an assault on his or her civil liberties. Every day that we fail to address that question, the Bush Administration moves us closer to another unwarranted, unjustified, unprovoked Middle Eastern war.
Every day for the next 999. And beyond that, there's really nothing much to say.
posted by Bob P @ 11:50 AM
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